Colpocleisis in the surgical treatment of pelvic organ prolapse: clinical experience

Abstract

Aim: The objective of this study was to present the clinical experience with colpocleisis by evaluating patient characteristics and long-term follow-up data. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study evaluating patients who underwent obliterative surgery for pelvic organ prolapse (POP) between 2010 and 2017. Patients who underwent colpocleisis without hysterectomy (C) (n=68) and colpocleisis of vaginal vault (CVV) (n=22) were included in this study. Results: The mean age of the study population was 72.7 years (range 55-89). The majority of the patients underwent colpocleisis as their primary surgical procedure for POP, as only 5.6% of the study group had a history of previous prolapse surgery. The mean follow-up duration was 49.5 months (range 1.5-109). Patient satisfaction with the surgery was high, with 98.9% of patients expressing they were “very satisfied” and 1.1% “satisfied”. There were two cases of recurrence (2.2%), and both were in the C group. One patient (1.1%) reported regret after surgery due to her husband's remorse about choosing an obliterative procedure. The recurrence rates, patient satisfaction, and regret were comparable between C and CVV groups. Conclusion: Colpocleisis is a viable option for the surgical treatment of POP, offering a high rate of success and patient satisfaction in long-term. Despite being an obliterative procedure, colpocleisis has acceptance as the primary surgical procedure by patients regardless of their marital status, and regret rate after surgery is low. Therefore, colpocleisis should be thoroughly discussed and included in the preoperative counseling and surgical planning of all patients with POP.